COVID-19 in Illinois is updated: here’s what happens Thursday

“I would ask people to be patient,” Lightfoot said. “This is the first opportunity. I think we have a lot of enthusiastic people. But we will get the people, we just need to be a little patient today as the phone lines and the online platform process their applications. ‘

The site will be the largest in the state. Dan Shulman, a spokesman for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, had a ‘soft opening’ on March 9. March 10 will be the first day the website wants to reach its goal of 6,000 vaccines per day. The website will be open eight weeks seven days a week.

Meanwhile, Illinois has two more COVID-19 mass vaccination sites ready to open Thursday. The state said the sites at 1155 E. Oakton St. in Des Plaines and in Quincy in the outskirts of Quincy to shoot up to four people a day once a day. With these sites, the state has 18 state-supported mass vaccination sites.

Illinois health officials on Thursday reported 1,740 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 and 42 additional deaths, bringing the total number of known infections in Illinois to 1,193,260 and the death toll across the country to 20. 668 since the beginning of the pandemic.

This is what happens to COVID-19 in the Chicago area and Illinois on Thursday:

Illinois health officials on Thursday announced 1,740 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 and 42 additional deaths, bringing the total number of known infections in Illinois to 1,193,260 and the death toll across the country to 20. 668 since the onset of the pandemic.

Officials also reported 73,990 new tests in the past 24 hours. The seven-day positive rate across the country was 2.9% for the period ending Wednesday.

The daily average of 7 days administered is 78,942, and 93,302 doses are given on Wednesday. Officials also say that a total of 2,993,543 vaccines have now been administered.

Registration for the United Center Mass Vaccination website opened Thursday morning and at least 6,000 people have already registered by telephone and online, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said during an unrelated news conference after some problems with the Zocdoc registration website on Thursday morning.

Chicago Health Commissioner Allison Arwady said during an online question-and-answer session that there was a “huge rush of people” when registration was only available Thursday.

“Some people could not go through immediately within 20 to 30 minutes, and everything was going on again,” she said.

“I would ask people to be patient,” Lightfoot said. “This is the first opportunity. I think we have a lot of enthusiastic people. But we will get the people, we just need to be a little patient today as the phone lines and the online platform process their applications. ‘

The initial drive-through appointments were discussed Thursday morning, but Arwady said there were still appointments.

About 40,000 self-employed workers in Illinois have lost access to unemployment benefits after a federal extension ended last month, and more could soon lose benefits.

The Illinois Department of Employment Security announced Wednesday that an improvement in the state’s unemployment rate puts an end to seven weeks of extended benefits for recipients of the federal unemployment benefit program. Those affected are performance workers and people who are unable to work due to certain health or financial consequences caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

People who collected benefits under the expansion received their final payments last February 21, says Kristin Richards, acting director of the state’s unemployment agency.

About 98% of U.S. households that received a COVID-19 relief test in December, according to the White House official, will also qualify for the next round of payments pending by President Joe Biden.

Biden said Americans were promised $ 2,000 in direct checks, but only $ 600 was approved in December. The president sees the promise as a cornerstone of his $ 1.9 billion relief package pending in the Senate. His proposal offers $ 1400 in additional payments that would be phased out quickly based on income, so that money is better targeted at the middle class and poor.

Under the current Senate bill, Biden’s government estimates that 158.5 million households will receive direct payments, according to the White House official who insisted it was anonymous to discuss private talks. The official stressed that almost everyone would receive twice as much of a check as in December, although 3.5 million households that received an amount of the $ 900 billion December package would no longer be eligible.

When will children be able to get COVID-19 vaccines?

It depends on the child’s age, but some teens may roll up their sleeves for too long.

The Pfizer vaccine has already been cleared for use from the age of 16. This means that some high school students may join the queue when they are eligible in their area, either due to a medical condition or once the availability is open.

The conference announced Thursday that the Big Ten men’s and women’s tournaments in Indianapolis can be attended by a limited number of fans this season.

Fans were not allowed to play at full capacity this year in an effort to limit the distribution of COVID-19.

The Big Ten men’s tournament, which takes place from March 10 to 14, will admit 8,000 fans at Lucas Oil Stadium, and the women’s tournament, which takes place on March 9 and 13, will have 2,500 admission to the smaller Bankers Life Fieldhouse allow.

The conference said it had received approval from the Marion County Department of Health, and that the decision had been voted on by the Big Ten Conference Directors of Athletics and the Board of Presidents and Chancellors.

Some people have delayed reactions to their first dose of COVID vaccine, with their arms a week or so after the shot red, sore, itchy and swollen.

Although unpleasant, it seems to be harmless. But the malignant skin condition can be mistaken for an infection, according to a letter published in The New England Journal of Medicine on Wednesday. The doctors said they wanted to share information about the cases to prevent the unnecessary use of antibiotics and to alleviate the concerns of patients and reassure them that they could safely get their second vaccination.

With 50 million Americans vaccinated against the coronavirus, and millions more people in the ranks every day, the urgent question is in many minds: when can I throw away my mask?

It’s a deeper question than it seems – about returning to normalcy, about how quickly vaccinated Americans can embrace loved ones, go out with friends and go to concerts, malls and restaurants without feeling threatened by the coronavirus.

There are definitely a lot of government officials who are ready. On Tuesday, Texas lifted its mask mandate, along with all restrictions on businesses, and Mississippi quickly followed. Governors in both states cited declining infection rates and the growing number of civilians being vaccinated.

But the pandemic is not over yet, and scientists advise patience.

It wasn’t even 2am when people outside a Little Village church on Sunday began queuing up in hopes of getting a COVID-19 vaccine.

By 8 p.m., dozens of umbrellas lined more than four blocks in one of the Chicago neighborhoods that hit the coronavirus the hardest, while people waited their turn. A turnaround that many of them thought would never come.

At the end of the day, more than 1,000 residents, the majority of Latinos – many people giving up their place to their parents and grandparents – received their first dose of Pfizer vaccine.

Despite the city’s efforts to make the shots available to every inhabitant of the areas most affected by the virus, regardless of whether it meets other standards for vaccination, some Latinos still have trouble getting the vaccine. get, while those in other communities hit hard continue to wait for it.

Community leaders believe that hesitation about the vaccine plays a role in getting some Latinos vaccinated, even where it is available. But language and technology barriers discourage people from seeking an appointment or even learning more about the vaccine.

Recently, a group of more than 40 community organizations called on the Chicago Department of Public Health to expand its high-risk neighborhood initiative to more communities and improve its approach to reaching Spanish-speaking Latinos as well as Black residents.

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